Love is one of the most powerful emotions.
If you have ever been in love, you are probably well-aware of love’s strength and power. Even though all relationships have their downsides, love always wins. Being in love can feel extremely rewarding as it has the power to heal pain and reduce stress. Furthermore, it makes you more compassionate, generous, and kind. Those who have been in love know that it is, without a doubt, the most powerful emotion.
There are 20 fun facts about love you probably did not know.
1. Falling in love feels like being on drugs
When you fall in love, the excitement and happiness that you feel is the same as the euphoria that substance users experience. According to a study published in the The Journal of Sexual Medicine, falling in love and being on drugs result in the same euphoric feeling as both release happy hormones such as dopamine, oxytocin, and adrenaline.
2. Hugs can relieve stress
A study conducted by the University of North Carolina found that after hugging their spouses, women experienced lower levels of blood pressure and higher levels of oxytocin (the hormone which lowers stress and boosts your mood).
3. Animals commit to monogamous relationships
We are not the only species that practice monogamous relationships. Alongside the human species, seahorses, coyotes, beavers, swans, geese, and others also mate for life.
4. Lovers’ heartbeats sync up
When researchers at the University of California, Davis analyzed 32 heterosexual couples who sat facing each other for 3 minutes, they found that their heart rates were almost identical. According to the research, when two lovers look into each other’s eyes, their heartbeats can sync up due to the strong emotional and physical connection.
5. Cuddling boosts your mood
Snuggling up and cuddling with your partner boosts your mood as it releases oxytocin. In fact, due to this well-known fact, oxytocin is also referred to as the “cuddling hormone”.
6. It eases chronic pain
Love has the power to reduce and even cure pain. Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine found that love and painkillers elicit the same response in the brain. “It turns out that the areas of the brain activated by intense love are the same areas that drugs use to reduce pain,” claims Arthur Aron, Ph.D.
7. Love is found when you least expect it
Many of us know that when we are looking for love, we never find it. Moreover, when we decide that we are no longer looking, it comes knocking on our door. Most people meet the love of their life when they least expect it.
8. Men fall in love faster than women
As opposed to what society, literature, and films have brainwashed us into believing, research has found that it is men – not women – who fall in love faster and deeper. The study was conducted on 172 college students and “although both men and women believe that women will fall in love and say “I love you” first in a relationship, men reported falling in love earlier and expressing it earlier than women reported.”
9. Love speeds up the healing process
A spouse or long-term partner does more than provide emotional support when you are hurt, sick, or injured. Research conducted at the Ohio State University Medical Center found that people heal faster when they share a stronger bond with their spouses. Researchers gave married couples blister wounds and discovered that those who were in a healthier relationship healed faster.
10. Love makes you more empathetic
When people are in love, they become more compassionate, empathetic and caring. In addition to this, they become more willing to understand how others feel and they often selflessly offer their help, love, and care.
11. People are attracted to scents
While we believe that we are attracted to somebody’s physical appearance, relationship therapist Rhonda Milrad, LCSW, claims that we are also drawn to their scent. Commenting on this, she explained “For both men and women, how someone smells and whether you are innately drawn to that scent goes a long way in determining your attraction”.
12. The longest marriage lasted 86 years
According to the Guinness World Records, Herbert and Zelmyra Fisher broke the record for the longest marriage. The late couple got married on 13 May 1924 in North Carolina, USA, and were happily married for 86 years and 290 days.
13. Love and lust affect different areas of the brain
Studies examined how sexual desire and love affect the brain and they found that the two feelings affect different areas. While love activates the regions connected to empathy, sexual desire is connected to motivation and reward.
14. Love makes you live longer
According to a study published in the Journal of Marriage and Family, partners who live together live longer. More specifically, “the authors found that divorced, widowed, and never-married White men had higher mortality rates than cohabiting White men, and never-married Black men had higher mortality rates than cohabiting Black men.”
15. Love increases our capacity to love even more
Love encourages us to be more compassionate and mindful. Melanie Greenberg, Ph.D. explains that compassion can further make us “more positive and empathetic in a matter of months”. Moreover, she explains that it can “increase activity in brain centers connected with empathy and positive emotions, decrease activation of our fear centers, and make our brains more interconnected—a trait associated with the secure attachment pattern.”
16. Love at first sight is a real thing
We read about it in books and we see it in films all the time, but is it a real thing? Science says yes! ‘Love at first sight’ is something many people experience; however, it is rarely a mutual feeling and it is not exactly “love”. Taking this further, while love is used to refer to intimacy, passion, and commitment, love at first sight is more of an intense attraction to someone. This attraction is usually so strong that it pulls the person and makes them open to the possibilities of a relationship.
17. Long-distance relationships can strengthen love
While you probably often hear people say that long-distance relationships cannot and will not work, research proves the opposite. In a study titled “Absence Makes the Communication Grow Fonder: Geographic Separation, Interpersonal Media, and Intimacy in Dating Relationships”, researchers found distance can strengthen a relationship. The authors explained that research suggests that long-distance relationships “are of equal or even more trust and satisfaction” than their geographically close counterpart.
18. Being in love is the number one reason why people wed
According to a 2013 survey by the Pew Research Center, 9 in 10 Americans believe love is the most important factor when it comes to marriage. This has changed drastically from previous decades in which financial stability was seen as being of much greater importance.
19. Love makes heart problems less likely
In a study of over 3.5 million adults, researchers found that heart problems were “less likely for spouses than for single, divorced and widowed people”. This means that a happy marriage full of love has the power to positively impact your physical health.
20. The butterflies inevitably disappear – and that’s normal
At the beginning of every relationship, partners feel butterflies when they look at each other. With time, this feeling disappears and people are left wondering what happened. Scientists spoke to NBC News and explained that you do not have to worry. Butterflies disappearing does not mean that you no longer love one another as the fluttery feeling in your stomach is a physiological response to lust not love. Nicole Gravagna, PhD explains that true love does not elicit this type of “nervousness or excitement”.